Strawberry capping machine



June 17, 1952 F, L, RAHAL STRAWBERRY CAPPING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed OCb. 30, 1948 1N VEN TOR.

3 Sheets-Sheet 5 F. L. RAHAL STRAWBERRY CAPPING MACHINE June 17, 1952 Filed oct. 50, 1948 IN VEN TOR* 77'y W (21nd am Patented June 17, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE STRAWBERRY CAPPING MACHINE Fred L. Rahal, North East, Pa.

Application October 30, 1948, Serial No. 57,445

(Cl. 14S- 55) 2 Claims.

1 This invention is intended to provide a strawberry capper which will uniformly cap strawberries. Features include a bed consisting essentially of adjacent pairs of capping rolls with a clearance space between each pair preventing jamming, a roll supporting frame maintaining the bite of the rolls, a drive permitting the close spacing of small diameter rolls, and a flexible tooth rake controlling the flow of strawberries over the capping bed. Further objects and advantages appear in the specification and claims.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a diagrammatic side elevation of a strawberry capping machine and part of the associated feeding table and discharge conveyor belt; Fig. 2 is a top plan view partly broken away; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top view of the capping rolls; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the roll drive; Fig. 5 is a detail of the rake, Fig. 6 is a sectional view of capping rolls in the same plane; and Fig. '7 is a sectional view of offset capping rolls.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 diagrammatically shows a typical installation of the strawberry capping machine in which l indicates the feeding chute or feeding table, 2 indicates the strawberry capping machine and 3 indicates the conveyor belt receiving the capped strawberries from the discharge end of the capping machine. The feeding chute, which may be of conventional construction serves to uniformly distribute and feed the strawberries to the capping machine. Spray heads 4 and 5 are provided above the feeding chute and capping machine to wash the strawberries.

In the use of the machine the strawberries are emptied from the crates on the upper end of the feeding chute and flow down the feeding chute and over the inclined bed E of the capping machine onto the conveyor belt. The capping machine removes the leaves, stems and hulls, which are deposited in a trough 1 beneath the capping bed. The streams of water from the spray heads 4 and 5 serve both to wash the strawberries and to keep the capping bed and feeding chute clean.

As shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3, the capping bed consists essentially of inclined pairs of capping rolls 8 and 9 arranged side by side with a clearance space I between each pair of capping rolls. As the strawberries tumble down the inclined capping bed, stems, leaves and hulls are gripped in the bite of the capping rolls 8 and 9 and forcibly pulled from the strawberries. The streams of water from the spray heads tend to wash the leafy or woody material from the capping rolls, thereby preventing wrapping around the rolls which would spread the bite of the rolls so that the rolls would be no longer effective for capping. The clearance space I0 between adjacent pairs of capping rolls is important since without this clearance space the capping rolls are quickly jammed. The diameter of the capping rolls is less than the smallest strawberry. This means that whatever size berry is fed to the machine some part of the leaves or stems will be exposed to or come in contact with the capping rolls during the downward travel. The operation of the capping rolls on small, medium size and large berries Il, l2 and I3 is indicated in Fig. 6. Since substantially the entire surface of the capping bed consists of capping rolls, there is no need to adjust the machine for different sized berries. All of the'strawberries are exposed to the capping rolls and while some ofthe larger berries may for a time straddle adjacent pairs of capping rolls as indicated in Fig. 6, sooner or later the leaves or stems are caught between one of the pairs of capping rolls.

Although the capping rolls are shown extending lengthwise of the capping bed or in the direction or movement of the strawberries, the capping rolls may extend crosswise of the capping bed. With the crosswise arrangement there is less opportunity for leaves and stems to be caught between the capping rolls. The lengthwise arrangement has the advantage that the strawberries tend to follow the length of the rolls and to be moved laterally so as to bring the leaves and stems into the bites of the rolls.

Substantially the same results are obtained when the axes of the capping rolls are offset as indicated in Fig. 7 or are in the same plane as indicated in Fig. 6. In either case, the rotation of the capping rolls is such that strawberries are tended to be moved toward the bites of the rolls. The offset arrangement shown in Fig. '7 permits the use of slightly larger diameter capping rolls. In either construction it is important that the rolls be unobstructed above the clearance spaces l0 so that larger berries will have a free opportunity to reach the capping rolls. In both constructions there is a bed having a generally flat capping surface over which the berries are free to tumble both along and crosswise of the bed.

The operation of the capping machine is further improved by an endless exible toothed rake having cross bars I4 traveling downward above the surface of the capping bed at approximately the average speed of travel of the strawberries. The bars I4 carry staggered flexible teeth I5 of rubber tubing or suitable resilient material which depend from the bars into substantial contact with the capping rolls. The teeth serve to slow down the faster moving strawberries and to speed up the slower moving strawberries and thereby equalize the speed. Another function of the teeth is to dislodge berries having hulls which are hard to remove. These latter berries tend to stick between the capping rolls and if not removed would interfere with the capping of other berries. The flexible teeth accomplish this result without mashing or unduly bruising the berries. The round and widely spaced teeth tend to deflect the berries laterally and thereby bring the berries into cooperation with the capping rolls. The spaced teeth function better than flat paddles which would not have the lateral deflecting action and which would interfere with the free tumbling of the strawberries which is desirable if the machine is to function effectively on all sizes and mixtures of sizes of strawberries.

The capping bed has a rigid sub-frame I9 carrying at its upper end journals I'I and I8 for worm shafts I9 and 20 respectively driven by pulleys 2| and 22 from a motor 23. The worm shafts I9 and 20 positively drive the capping rolls 8 of alternate pairs of rolls. That is, the worm shaft I9 drives one of the capping rolls in the first, third, fifth, etc. pair from one side of the capping bed and the worm shaft 28 drives one of the capping rolls in the second, fourth, n

sixth, etc. pair. This permits the use of large diameter worm gears 24 and 25 for the roll drive. The small diameter of the capping rolls and the close spacing of the rolls does not permit the use of a single worm shaft drive for all of the rolls. The positively driven capping rolls 8 may consist of knurled or fluted metal rods fixed to the gears 24 and 25 journalled in cross bars '26 and 21 adjacent the gears 24 and 25 and also jour nalled in cross bars 28 which are spaced apart along the length of the rolls 8 to prevent bending of the rolls. The capping rolls 9 which are driven by contact with the positively driven capping rolls 8 consist of roll shafts 29 each bridging the space between adjacent cross bars having cemented or moulded or bonded thereon covers 30 of rubber or other suitable resilient material. The shafts '29 extend between and have the ends journalled in the cross bars 28 except in the upper end where the shafts 29 are journalled in the cross bar 26. As shown in Fig. 2, adjacent ends of the shafts 29 butt within each of the cross bars 28. The spacing between the cross bars 28 is such that the rubber coated rolls maintain a substantially constant bite throughout the length. In other words, the spacing is such that the bending of the shafts '29 is insufficient to destroy the bite of the rolls. This is an important feature since the large amount of leaves or woody material passing between the capping rolls tends to spread the rolls. From one aspect the capping rolls are sectionalized so that even if the rolls in one section spread, the other sections are effective. The cross bars 28-28 are rigidly fixed to the sub-frame I6. The cross bars 26 and 2'I are out of contact with the strawberries. The cross bars 28 which come in contact with the strawberries project only slightly above the surface of the rolls and accordingly do not unduly obstruct the downward movement of the strawberries. The presence of the cross 4 bars 28 makes it desirable that the rake have flexible teeth as otherwise the strawberries would tend to be mashed against the cross bars.

The endless rake is driven by a motor 3| which drives a chain 32 carrying lugs 33 xed to the bars I4.

What I claim as new is:

l. In a strawberry capping machine, a bed inclined so the berries tumble freely down the slope of the bed, said bed having an essentially unobstructed generally flat upper surface over which the berries are free to tumble lengthwise and crosswise, said surface being formed of a plurality of pairs of capping rolls, each pair of capping rolls comprising contacting rolls extending in the direction of flow of strawberries down the bed and rotating in the direction to draw leaves, stems and hulls down through the bites of the rolls and having clearance spaces between adjacent pairs of rolls, said rolls having a diameter of the order of the diameter of the smallest strawberries, and at least one of each pair of rolls being covered with rubber-like resilient material, and one roll of each pair having longitudinal corrugations and the other roll being substantially smooth, means for directing distributed streams of water transverse to the upper surface of the bed so as to strike berries tumbling down the bed and wash the berries and rolls.

2. In a strawberry capping machine, a bed inclined so the berries tumble freely down the slope of the bed, said bed having an essentially unobstructed generally flat upper surface over which the berries are free to tumble lengthwise and crosswise, said surface being formed of a plurality of pairs of capping rolls, each pair of capping rolls comprising contracting rolls rotating in the direction to draw leaves, stems and hulls down through the bites of the rolls and having clearance spaces between adjacent pairs of rolls, said rolls having a diameter of the order of the diameter of the smallest strawberries, and at least one of each pair of rolls being covered with rubber-like resilient material, and one roll of each pair having longitudinal corrugations and the other roll being substantially smooth, means for directing distributed streams of water transverse to the upper surface of the bed so as to strike berries tumbling down the bed and wash the berries and rolls, an endless rake having flexible teeth staggered along the direction of flow of the strawberries and having spaces between teeth along and crosswise to the direction of flow greater than the size of the strawberries, and a drive for the rake moving it down along the bed in the direction of flow.

FRED L. RAHAL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 301,629 Sainsevain July 8, 1884 559,548 Swart May 5, 1896 876,189 Ingersoll Jan. 7, 1908 1,029,918 Dunkley June 18, 1912 1,207,055 Keogh Dec. 5, 1916 1,703,123 Triplett Feb. 26, 1929 2,048,470 Sanborn July 21, 1936 2,323,668 Morgan July 6, 1943 2,383,268 Morgan Aug. 21, 1945 2,413,279 Aasland Dec. 3l, 1946 

